Why PR May be the Answer to the Future of Search

Rand Fishkin is very smart when it comes to what’s happening in the world of Search Engine Optimization. (SEO) His latest blog post is about the trend for searchers to find what they want right on the search results page (SERP) and not bother to click though to a website and how this may affect the future of search.

The gist of the report is that over the last few years the number of people who actually click a result and visit a website as a result of a search is dwindling. Not so much on desktops, but there’s been quite a steep drop on mobile devices. And since Google’s overall search numbers show a huge growth in mobile searches, this is important information.

Google has long said it’s an answer engine, rather than a search engine. And the study shows that mobile searchers definitely expect to find what they’re looking for when they search.

PR and the Future of Search

So what does Rand mean when he says the future of SEO is On-SERP SEO?

Well, if the searcher is going to find what they’re looking for on the search result page (SERP) you had better rethink how you write your meta tags for the pages on your website and how you craft the content people see when they search – for the brand and the generic keywords related to your brand.

That means a great writer has to craft the copy for those search results – and where better to find a great writer who knows how to position your brand or organization and write effective messaging than in your PR team?

What’s that you say – your PR team doesn’t know how to write meta tags? They don’t understand how to improve the search result content? Then I’d advise that they learn how to do this sooner, rather than later.

SEO writing is another digital skill that will soon be regarded as a core PR skill.